Minecraft Adventure Update Details Revealed!

It is impossible to explain the addiction of Minecraft. My fascination with this hideously blocky monstrosity came about thanks to our very own Muttonchop, who warned me ahead of time that this game would steal away hundreds of hours of my free time. He was right. I’ve plundered the depths of my generated world, and built massive castles and cities, complete with banks, neighborhoods, and monuments. Minecraft is a sickness, and it’s about to get terminal. First, watch the trailer, then read on to discover the secrets the Adventure Update has in store.

Minecraft fans across the world are anxiously awaiting the release of the newest, and largest, patch dubbed the Adventure Update. This is a game changer in the most literal sense. While Minecraft has always been focused on exploration, the majority of people’s gaming was spent gathering materials and building their own monstrosities. As of some time in September (the date was pushed back from the 8th to an uncertain release), the new Adventure Update is going to put more of a focus on getting your character out into the world, searching new lands and fighting new monsters.

The new update was showcased at the recent PAX Expo in Washington, and a fan of the game had a chance to explore the update in great detail. His blog has given us a lot of incites into the new world of Minecraft, which I’ll summarize here:

Imagine stumbling upon this in your travels!

Villages: Your Minecraft world now has neighbors! Randomly generated villages are going to pop up, fully populated and ready to explore (or plunder.) The PAX demo didn’t have NPCs, but Notch (the maker of Minecraft) has said that there will indeed be populated villages out there.

Abandoned Mines: As you tunnel through Minecraft, you may begin to encounter mineshafts dug by NPCs! These are going to have some special decorations, like archways and spiderwebs, and will more then likely contain chests with loot left behind by the original miner.

New Terrain: Expect to see some marvelous new terrain in Minecraft, including mountains, oceans, and ravines. The new worlds of Minecraft are going to be more exciting to explore than ever before.

New Enemies: Expect to encounter some new nasties in your world. First there is the Blue Spider, which will be able to poison you. Then there is the more famous nasty, the Enderman, which showed up in some photos that Notch leaked a while ago. These 3 meter tall shadow men are nasty buggers that won’t move while you stare at them, but given the chance they will run at your back, or even TELEPORT behind you to attack. Expect some nightmares from these guys!

Notch's original leaked photo of the Endermen

New Blocks: You’ll now have the ability to create iron bar blocks (I see a prison being added to my city soon) and glass pane blocks, which are just one side of a 6 sided cube, making them better for creating windows. There will also be a few new plants, like Ivy and Melons.

Combat Improvements: There are a lot of changes to the combat. First, you can now dash around by double tapping the W key. Second, Bows can be held back longer to give you shot more power. Third, blocking has been added, which should help to make fighting a bit more intuitive. Fourth, there will now be critical hits that can be accomplished by moving down while attacking.

Experience Bar: This is the biggest change coming to Minecraft, and it’s not coming with patch 1.8, but rather in 1.9 due out in late September. You now have the ability to level up your character. Every time you kill a creature, orbs of experience will fall out. As you gain levels, you will be given 3 skill points to use to increase as of yet unannounced skills. The real pain here, though, is that dying puts you back at level 0! Luckily, Notch has said that he wants people to be able to fully level up in about 2 hours, which will make getting surprised by a Creeper and blown to hell hurt a little less!

Food Meter: Remember in the old days of Minecraft when food was only used as a way to gain back health? No more. Now you have to eat to survive, which is going to add a whole new dimension to the game.

So there you have it. For you Minecraft fans out there, expect your world to be forever altered. And if you’re like me, you can’t wait to dig in!